Farmer’s market
Charlotte Hollins knows she faces a battle. The 23-year-old British farmer and her 21-year-old brother Ben are fighting to save the farm from developers that their father worked on since he was 14. ___1___.
“You don’t often get a day off. Supermarkets put a lot of pressure on farmers to keep prices down. With fewer people working on farms it can be isolating,” she said. “There is a high rate of suicide and farming will never make you rich!”
Oliver Robinson, 25, grew up on a farm in Yorkshire. __2___. “I’m sure dad hoped I’d stay,” he said. “I guess it’s a nice, straightforward life, but it doesn’t appeal. For young, ambitious people, farm life would be a hard world.” For Robinson, farming doesn’t offer much “in terms of money or lifestyle.” Hollins agrees that economics stops people from pursuing farming rewards: “providing for a vital human need, while working outdoors with nature.”
Farming is a big political issue in the UK.___3___. The 2001 foot and mouth crisis closed thousands of farms, stopped meat exports, and raised public consciousness of troubles in UK farming.
Jamie Oliver’s 2005 campaign to get children to eat healthily also highlighted the issue. This national concern spells(带来)hope for farmers competing with powerful supermarkets. ___4___.
“I started going to Farmers’ Markets in direct defiance(蔑视)of the big supermarkets. ___5___. It’s terrible,” said Londoner Michael Samson.
